Cecilia Beaux

When we were in Chicago this summer, I went to the Art Museum and wandered around for hours. In the last room I was in, I came around the corner and there was this Cecilia Beaux painting hanging - which is very large (80x46 in). She took over five months to complete it, yet kept the looseness of an alla prima painting. (She also only painted til noon everyday, and would then put down her brush and go play). It has such beautiful composition, movement and brush work!

"Dorothea and Francesca" 1898

There's a great book of her life and paintings, "Cecelia Beaux - Modern Painter in the Gilded Age", by Alice Carter.

I would also highly recommend this week the movie, "The Rape of Europa". Sounds ominous, but is actually a fascinating documentary about Hitler and the German's theft of thousands of artworks in Europe. It tells of his rejection into art school, and then how France, Russia, and Italy hid many of the famous works in chateaus and homes so that they wouldn't be abducted (the Mona Lisa was hidden for years in the French countryside - with her own room. Both John and I were totally mesmerized! (you can get it through Netflex)